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The Dinner That Was 
Always There 




LIBRARY OF 
“JUST RIGHT BOOKS” 

The Tiddly Winks 
Open Air Stories 
Surprise Stories 

Ginger Bread Boy | 

The Party Twins 

Doll Land Stories 

The Treasure Twi«s 

Tale of Curly Tail 

Washington’s Boyhood p 

Reading Time Stories | 

Comical Circus Stories 
Knowledge Primer Games 
Real Out-of-Door Stories 
Jolly Polly and Curly Tail 
Fifty Funny Animal Tales 
The Flower and Berry Babies 
In and Out-Door Playgaipes 
A Child’s Garden of Verses 
Busy Fingers Drawing Primer 
Happy Manikin in Manners Town 
The Vegetable and Fruit Children 
The Dinner That Was Always 
There 

Six Tiddly Winks and Their A to 
Zees 

Published by 

ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY 
Chicago, U. S. A. 


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THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 

Copyright 1923 by Albert Whitman and Company 
Chicago, U. S. A. 




Spring Is Coming 



AUC 29 '23 


A JUST RIGHT BOOK 
PUBLISHED IN THE U. S. A 


4 

©C1A752717 





































PREFACE 


TF you were a boy and woke up 
many mornings hungry and there 
was no food to eat, what would 
you do? And if you heard your little 
girl friend crying for food and knew 
that she had none, what would you 
do? 


5 













THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


You would go out in search of 
the Dinner That Was Always There, 
wouldn’t you? And when you found 
it, you would bring it back so that all 
your people could share it. 

That is just exactly what the little 
Eskimo hero of this book did. His 
adventure on that long search, his en¬ 
counter with the three bears and the 
white wolves, his courage in the dark 
cave, his meeting with the very strange 
old man with the white face and long 
beard, and finally the very surprising 
way that the Dinner That Was Always 
There came to him, make a story that 

will hold any boy’s or girl’s attention 
to the very end. 


Roy J. Snell. 





Contents 


Menadlook and Attakak at Home.Page 

Menadlook and Raven Father. “ 

The Two White Bears. “ 

The Three White Wolves. “ 

The Strange Man and His Four Reindeer. “ 

The Great Chief and the Brave Hunter Laugh at Menadlook.. “ 

Menadlook Prospers. “ 

The Dinner That Is Always There at Last. “ 


9 

19 

31 

41 

59 

72 

78 

87 


7 


















a 


“Uha-gook! Can-ook?” That’s the Way Kitmesuk Always Starts 
His Stories 


8 













































The Dinner That Was 
Always There 



M enudlook 


CHAPTER I 

MENADLOOK AND ATTAKAK 

AT HOME 

TT then the ice has swept down from 
the North and the ocean keeps 
still, still; when the sun has gone out of 
sight and out of sight and out of sight 
till you can’t see him at all, all day 







THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


and all night; when the moon smiles 
and smiles and all the little stars 
twinkle and twinkle till one is certain 
they are going to twinkle themselves 
quite out of the sky;when Great White 
Bear comes prowling around and looks 
down through the eider duck-skin 
window-shade. When Little White 
Fox goes creeping, creeping everj^here 
looking for Big White Bear’s kitchen. 
When the wind makes the covering to 
the window rattle and pop, pop. When 
the dogs sing “Roo! Roo! Roo!” all 
lonesome like, then all the little Eski¬ 
mo boys with their shiny brown bare 
arms and all the little Eskimo girls, 
with their shiny brown bare arms 
huddle about the seal-oil lamp in the 
cozy,Oh! so cozy, “igloo,” which is the 


10 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


name the Eskimos call their houses 
built of ice blocks, and old Kitmesuk, 
with his shaggy brown beard hanging 
down and his shaggy brown eyelashes 
hanging down and his long brown hair 
hanging down, sits on the bed-shelf 
and tells a perfectly good story of other 
times and other places and the years 
of long ago. 

And the one the children love best 
is a very long story, the one I am going 
to tell you now. It is all about how 
the Eskimo boy, Menadlook, went in 
search of The Dinner That Was Al¬ 
ways There. 

“Uba-gook! Can-ook?” That’s the 
way Kitmesuk always starts his 
stories, while he strokes his long 
shaggy moustache, boogs his eyes out 


11 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


from beneath his shaggy eyebrows, and 
tosses back his long brown hair. And 
so far as I can tell, what he means is 
this, “See here I have a story! Per¬ 
haps you won’t like it, but here it is.’’ 
Now you may be sure the little Eskimo 
boys and the little Eskimo girls always 
like the story, for Kitmesuk is a won¬ 
derful story-teller, though like all good 
story-tellers, he is very modest and 
only dares hope that his stories may 
be pleasing to the little folks of the 
tundra which is what the Eskimos call 
their frozen country. 

“Uba-gook. Can-ook?’’ 

In the village of Kinegan, on Cape 
Prince of Wales, on Behring Straits, 
in Alaska, there lived a boy and girl 
with an old Eskimo man and his wife. 


12 





THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 



Attakak 


The boy, Menadlook, was not the old 
man’s son, but his nephew. The girl, 
Attakak, was no relation to them at 
all, but they had taken her to keep, for 
they had said, ‘‘When there is plenty 
for all to eat we shall not miss her 
share, and if there is nothing for any 
of us to eat, why it won’t matter 
either,” which is good sense for simple 
Eskimo people, I am sure. 


13 







THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


Well, sometimes there were plenty 
of walrus dinners on the meat shelf, 
and then the old woman would bring 
down plenty of dinner for all and cook 
it over the fire. Then she would say, 
“Come now, the walrus dinner is here, 
and all would eat as much as they 
liked. But by and by the day would 
come when she would climb to the 
high meat shelf and scrape and scrape, 
and say, “There were plenty of walrus 
dinners on this shelf last week, but 
now there is no dinner here.” Then 
the little girl, Attakak, would laugh 
and the boy, Menadlook, would laugh, 

I 

and they would run and play and for¬ 
get all about there not being any din¬ 
ner on the meat shelf. 


14 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


The next day the old woman would 
climb to the meat shelf and rattle and 
scrape as before, and say again, “Well, 
there were plenty of dinners on this 
shelf last week, but there is no walrus 
dinner on this shelf now.” Then the 
little girl would smile ever so little 
and the boy would smile ever so little. 
They would run and try to play, but 
they couldn’t very well, for they were 
thinking all the time of the dinner 
that wasn’t there. 

The third day the old woman would 
do as she had done the two days be¬ 
fore, but the little girl and the boy did 
not smile at all, for they were very, 
very hungry, and two little streams of 
tears crept down the cheeks of the little 
girl, though she tried bravely to keep 


15 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


them back. But the boy would tell 
her not to cry and would try to com¬ 
fort her; “For,” he would say, “when 
I am older I shall go in search of The 
Dinner That Is Always There." 

And with the family it was always 
the same. There were times when there 
were seal-meat dinners on the meat 
shelf. Then the old woman would cook 
a good lot of seal-meat and say, “Come, 
here are dinners for all.” But all too 
soon she would be rattling her stick 
on the empty meat shelf, and saying, 
“Well, there were plenty of dinners 
here last week, but now there is no 
dinner at all.” And always the chil¬ 
dren ran away and played until they 
were very, very hungry. Then the little 
girl would sit and weep, and the boy 


16 





When I Am Older I Shall Go and Search 


17 




























THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


would try to comfort her by telling her 
of The Dinner That Was Always There. 
Always and always it was the same. 
There were walrus dinners in spring 
and seal dinners in summer, duck din¬ 
ners in autumn, and fish and white 
bear dinners in winter, but always 
there were plenty for a time, then there 
were none, and the old woman rattled 
her stick on the empty shelf and said 
the same thing over and over, “There 
were plenty of dinners here last week, 
now there is no dinner at all,” and the 
boy would comfort the little girl by 
talking of the dinner he was going to 
find, The Dinner That Is Alwa'vs 
There. 


18 





On the Great Rock 

CHAPTER II 

MENADLOOK AND RAVEN 

FATHER 

One time when spring was near again 
and there were no fish in the sea, no 
birds on the tundra, no walrus in the 
straits, no white bear on the ice, it was 


19 










THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 

starving time again. Every day Me- 
nadlook crept up to the window of the 
igloo and looked down at Attakak’s 
pinched little face, and wished he had 
something to give her to eat. 

Finally he could stand it no longer, 
and though he was very weak from 
hunger, and though all the hunters 
were saving their strength till they 
were sure of game, Menadlook took 
his bola balls and his bola cord and 
went away up the beach to see if he 
might not find one wild duck that had 
ventured to the Arctic land very early 
this spring. 

In those olden days, before the Es¬ 
kimo people had the white man’s noisy 
guns, they had bola balls. These were 
two small ivory balls, very heavy and 


20 





In the Shelter of a Great Rock 


21 
















THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


hard, fastened to two short strings. 
These short strings were fastened to 
one long string of seal-skin. The 
hunter whirled . this long string with 
the bola balls on the two short strings 
over his head till the string went “Ziz, 
ziz, ziz.” Then he threw it, and the 
strings would wind round and round 
whatever it struck and stay there. 

Well, Menadlook went down on the 
beach, then over by the edge of the 
tundra and along the foot of the moun¬ 
tain, but not a thing did he see. He 
went over to the little lakes where the 
wild ducks stayed, but the little lakes 
were all frozen over and no ducks could 
swim there. All the time he was grow¬ 
ing weaker and weaker with hunger, 
so he crept up to the shelter of a great 


22 






THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


rock and sat doWn to rest. He sat 
there a long time and at last, seeming 
to feel stronger, he was about to go 
further around the mountain in hopes 

of finding a white rabbit or even a 
white owl asleep somewhere, though 

a white owl would be very poor eating, 
I am sure. He had risen to go when 
he heard a hoarse “Harook, Harook!” 
right over his head. He looked, and 
there above him on the great rock was 
a large black raven, black as black 
could be! He had one wing spread out 
at the side like an old woman who had 
been gathering sticks, and his bill was 
as shiny and black as the most precious 
of old ivory. Menadlook thought he 
had never seen such a large and won¬ 
derful raven in all his life. 


23 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


Well, I think a ra'\^en is almost worse 
eating than an owl, because his meat 
is black, but Menadlook was not 
choosing just then, so he took his bola 
balls out of his pocket and unwound 
the strings very carefully. Then he 
threw the balls a little way from him 
so he could get a good swing on them. 
Then he began to wind the balls over 
his head. “Ziz! Ziz! Ziz!” faster and 
faster they flew, “Zing! Zing! Zing!” 
they sang. In just another second 
they would have gone singing through ’ 
the air right at the neck of the great 
raven, for you must know that there 
was no better shot in the village with 
the bola balls than Menadlook. 

But just as he was about to let the 
bola balls fly, he began to think how 


24 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


much this raven looked like the Raven 

Father the old men talked about in 

the igloos when the nights were long 

and dark. Raven Father had made 

all the folks in the world, so the old 
% ^ 

men said, and they must have known, 
for they were very wise. Well, Me- 
nadlook began thinking of this, and 
of how terrible a thing it would be if he 
were to kill Raven Father and make 
raven stew of him. A very bad stew 
that would be! He thought about it 
so long that the bola string wound 
about his own neck and bumped him 
on the nose. At this the great raven 
gave a chuckling sound way down in 
his throat, which sounded like a boat 
being drawn up on the gravel beach, 
and spreading his wings flew high, high 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


in the air, only to come tumbling down 
as if he had been shot by a hunter. 
Down, down he tumbled, faster and 
faster, until he was looping the loop 
three or four times every second. Down, 
down! Menadlook thought he would 
surely be dashed upon a rock and 
killed! Down, down! and every time 
he went over he made a strange sound, 
which sounded like nothing so much as 
the pulling of a cork from an old skin- 
bag filled with seal-oil. Down! Down 
he tumbled till he was almost to the 
ground, then Ah-ne-ca! he spread his 
great wings and went floating away 
like some wonderful aviator in an air¬ 
ship, although Menadlook, of course, 
knew nothing at all of air-ships or 
aviators, being only an Eskimo boy. 


26 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


The raven floated on and on, on and 
on, till he was quite out of sight. Then 
Menadlook began to think he was not 
Raven Father at all, but just some 
wise old raven who was sitting on that 
rock looking for something. 

‘T wonder what he could have been 
looking for?” said Menadlook, 
scratching his head. “Anyway, I’m 
going to look about and see.” He 
went walking about the great rock 
looking carefully here, there, and ev¬ 
erywhere, and Ah-ne-ca! There it was! 
A rabbit hole under the rock! And 
yes, indeed, the rabbit was right there! 

Well, that raven, whether he was 
Father Raven or not, did not have 
rabbit soup for dinner that night, for 
Attakak had it instead, and I am sure 


27 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


she shared it with her gallant little play¬ 
mate, even though he wished her to 
eat it all. 

The walrus came next day, and after 
that there were walrus dinners for all 
again, and for a long time the old 
woman went every day to the meat 
shelf, brought down meat and said, 
“Come, now we will have dinner. Here 
are dinners for all.” 

But Menadlook did not forget that 
he was going in search of The Dinner 
That Is Always There, and he became 
more and more sure that as soon as 
the snow was thick and hard on the 
tundra, and the ice thick and hard on 
the little lakes, and the ocean silenced 
by the great ice-cakes, that very year 
he would go in search of this wonderful 


28 





Raven Floated On and On 

29 















THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


dinner, for had he not seen a great 
raven that looked very much like Ra¬ 
ven Father? And did not this mean 
good luck? Did it not mean that 
Raven Father would watch over him 
on his journey? Well, anjrway, that 
is what Menadlook thought it meant, 
and when we feel that someone is look¬ 
ing over us and protecting us it makes 
us very brave. So all summer long, 
Menadlook longed for the snow and 
ice and winter-time when he might be 
on his way. 


30 




CHATER III 


THE TWO WHITE BEARS 

Now where in all the great lonesome 
land of Alaska was Menadlook to find 
The Dinner That Was Always There? 
It was winter and he was ready, but 
which way should he go? It might 
be out on the dark old ocean, which 
was filled with great white cakes of 
ice; it might be somewhere on the broad 
sandy beach all covered with hard, 
packed snow stretching away and 
away to the northward; it might 
be on the broad salt marshes which 
ran along the beach and were filled 
with such wonderful little salt lakes 
in the bright summer-time, but which 
were white and cheerless now; and it 


31 


I 



r 



















THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


might be way, way yonder in the moun¬ 
tains which seemed to be smoking at 
present. 

Menadlook considered this for a 
long time, then at last, shouldering 
his pook-sack, into which Attakak had 
placed a very fine lunch, and in which 
also were his bola balls and his cord, 
he patted Attakak on the foot as a 
special sign of affection, and told her 
not to worry, for he would soon be 
back with the wonderful dinner which 
he was about to seek. He had de¬ 
cided to travel along the beach for a 
time, and trust to some sign which 
might tell him which way to go. 

He had tramped all day till his feet 
were tired and his stomach empty, 
when he came to two old tumbled- 


33 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


down igloos on the edge of the tun¬ 
dra. Nobody lived there, so he cleaned 
the snow from one of them, and took 
some half-rotted logs from the other 
for building a fire. He boiled a cup of 
Russian tea, which had been brought 
across the Straits by some native trad¬ 
ers. After this, he felt very cozy in his 
old house with his faithful dog, Soo- 
look, by his side. 

As he sat in the broken-down en¬ 
trance to the old igloo, after he had 
eaten his lunch, when the sun had set 
and the stars were coming out one by 
one, he saw two very white mounds of 
snow before him on the beach. These 
he knew were sand-dunes covered with 
snow. He looked at them a long time 


34 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


and thought how one might dig in 
some of these mounds and discover a 
rich cave of hidden treasure. 

At last he went to put more wood on 
his fire. Returning after a time he 
looked awayatthesand-piles. Then he 
rubbed his eyes and looked again. Was 
he dreaming? Had the cold air made 
him sleepy? Was he sleeping now? 
He pinched himself. No, he was awake. 
But sure as he was alive, there were 
four sand - piles covered with snow 
where before there were but two! And 
when he looked closely he knew that 
•two of the sand-piles were not so white 
as the others. They looked as if some 
loose yellow sand had been blown over 
them. 


35 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


He looked and looked, and in time 
by straining his eyes he was able to see 
two round balls at the top of each of 
the two brown piles, and two red spots 
lower down. Then he guessed right 
away what these were. They were not 
sand-piles covered with snow at all, 
but two great, big white bears! 

Was he frightened? Well, that 
would be hard to tell. He was so in¬ 
terested in his search for The Dinner 
That Was Always There that if he 
were frightened at all, it didn’t last 
long, and he was wondering at once 
whether these two great silent fellows 
who had their white palaces on the' 
floating ice of the ocean, and had come 
south and south and south hundreds 
and hundreds of miles had anything 


36 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


to tell him about The Dinner That 
Was Always There. It might be—it 
just might be true—that, as the medi¬ 
cine men sometimes said, the big white 
bears had a great, great meat shelf far, 
far to the north, and that it was broad 
as the earth and high as the moon. 
Supposing they did? And supposing 
they could tell him where it was? 
Wouldn’t that be grand? 

“But then,” he thought to himself, 
“these fellows can’t talk to me, and if 
they could, perhaps they wouldn’t tell. 
The only way they could help me would 
be to show me the way, and on the 
way there they might become very, 
very hungry. Then what would be¬ 
come of Soolook and me, and of my 
people who might starve if I do not 


37 







THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


bring them back The Dinner That Is 
Always There?"' When he thought of 
this, he drew back into the entrance of 
his borrowed home and kept very quiet 
indeed. And old Soolook was very 
quiet too, for it might be that these 
two white bears were hungry, very hun- 
just now, and if they found out 
that there was a little boy and an 
old dog over in that deserted igloo 
they migh t come over there to see abou t 
it, and then surely there would be no 
more Menadlook, no more Soolook, 

and no Dinner That Was Always 
There. 

But by and by Menadlook looked 
and there were only the two very white 
snow piles standing by the sea. The 


38 





They Ate 


the Remainder 


39 


















































THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


white bears had gone back to their 
ice train and were journeying south¬ 
ward once more. 

Menadlook was soon sleeping 
soundly beside Soolook and did not 
waken until the sun came peeping in 
between the cracks of the wall. They 
ate the remainder of Attakak’s lunch 
for breakfast, then struck out across 
the tundra toward the smoking moun¬ 
tains where no Eskimo had ever been. 

‘ ‘For, ’’said Menadlook to himself,“If 
I am to find The Dinner That Is Al¬ 
ways There, I must go where no one 
has ever been before. If it were where 
others could see it, it would have 
been found long ago.’’ 


40 




CHAPTER IV 

THE THREE WHITE WOLVES 

All day Menadlook and Soolook 
tramped across the tundra, which grew 
lonelier and lonelier as they journeyed 
on. That night, they had nothing to 
eat and went without' their supper. 
Because there was no deserted igloo 
on the tundra, and not so much as a 
willow bush to shelter them from the 
wind, which came sweeping down from 
the north, very cold indeed, Menad¬ 
look was obliged to build a snow house. 
This took a long time, and he was 
very tired when he had it finished. It 
was a very good snow house, with a 
small, round door and two windows 
which had snow cakes for lights. He 


41 


THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


was rather proud of it. Soolook had 
already crept inside, and was probably 
fast asleep, and Menadlook was about 
to creep in too, when he saw some¬ 
thing very strange standing out on 
the tundra. There were three some¬ 
things out there. They looked like 
posts of driftwood stuck in the ground 
and all covered with snow, white as 
white could be, and ery still. 

Well, Menadlook was very much 
surprised at this, for he had not no¬ 
ticed them there when he had begun 
building the snow house. “But then, ’’ 
he thought to himself, “probably they 
were there, and I was so much inter¬ 
ested in the house that I didn’t notice 
them. Anyway, I’m too tired to go 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


and see what they are now. I’ll go 
over there in the morning. ’ ’ He started 
once more to creep into the house. 

But while he had been thinking, 
darkness had begun to spread itself 
across the white tundra and things 
were changing. As he looked once more 
at the strange white posts, he thought 
he caught a red gleam from the tops 
of them. He looked and looked, and 
was at last sure that he saw two gleam¬ 
ing red balls at the top of each of the 
white posts. They gleamed and gleam¬ 
ed like great red beads. 

Then he knew at once what these 
strange white things were! They were 
not posts of driftwood nor piles of 
snow. No, indeed! They were three 
white, white wolves that had come 


43 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


down to the tundra from the Smok¬ 
ing Mountain! The red spots were 
their eyes gleaming in the dark, and 
though they did not move at all, Me- 
nadlook knew they were looking at 
him. 

Well, here were some new strangers! 
These white wolves never came to the 
beach to visit his people. Their home 
was far, far away where the Eskimo 
people had never been. Should he 
make friends with them and ask them 
to lead him to The Dinner That Was 
Always There, which might be hidden 
away over among the Smoking Moun¬ 
tains? He might do this, but then 
all of the wolf folk had sharp, sharp 
teeth and when they are hungry, like 
the great white bears, they are not a 


44 





THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 

bit particular what they eat, and con¬ 
sider an Eskimo boy an unusually 
good dinner. The more he looked at 



He Caught the Gleam of Their Eyes 


them, and the more he caught the 
bright gleam of their eyes, the more 
sure he became that they were no 
friends of his, and were better left alone. 
He cut a hard cake of ice, just the size 
of the door to his snow house, and 
crawling inside, pulled the snow-door 
in after him. 


45 

























THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 

Whether the white wolves came and 
knocked at that door during the night 
he never knew, for he was soon fast 
asleep and dreaming of The Dinner 
That Is Always There. 

The next day he came upon a great 
herd of caribou whose hoofs crack- 
cracked against one another as they 
traveled southward. They looked very 
kind, and Menadlook knew that they 
ate only reindeer moss and willow 
leaves, but they were very swift fel¬ 
lows, so, though they were going far, 
far south where there were many won¬ 
derful things, and where, indeed, there 
might be The Dinner That Was Al¬ 
ways There. Menadlook knew imme¬ 
diately that he could never follow them, 
and as for catching a ride on the back 


46 




r 


THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


* 



A Prowling Great White Bear 


of one of them, it was quite out of the 
question, for they had no more than 
got a whiff at the smell of old Soolook 
than they went bounding away, their 
hoofs cracking together louder than 
ever. 


47 












CHAPTER V 

WHISTLING CAVE 
AT THE FOOT OF 
SMOKING MOUNTAIN 


Though old Soolook ran this way 
and that all day long, he failed to 
catch a white rabbit for their dinner. 
Menadlook was shuddering at the 
thought of another night spent on the 










































































THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


cold tundra,iwhen he heard a low 
whistling, much like the wind about 
his snow house, only steadier. He went 
in the direction of the sound toward 
the foot of Smoking Mountain, and 
every moment it grew louder and 
louder. Now it sounded like the whis¬ 
tle of a boy who had but recently 
learned to whistle. Whoo-de-le whoot! 
Whoo-le-de-loot! it sounded out of the 
half darkness that was all about the 
boy and his dog. Menadlook thought 
this must be the Whistling Cave. He 
had heard old men tell of it. Follow¬ 
ing the sound which grew louder and 
shriller every moment, he came at last 
to the mouth of the Whistling Cave 


49 





THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


indeed! As he was about to step in¬ 
side he tripped and fell over something 
very firmly frozen in the earth. Pick¬ 
ing himself up he looked closely at the 
object. It was a great tusk, such a 
tusk as no walrus in the world could 
carry about. He peered all about, and 
by the light of the moon could see 
great bones lying on the earth, most 
of them half buried in the ground, and 
beside this one tusk there were five 
others. “These,” he thought to him¬ 
self, “must be the bones of the great 
animals that used to live in the cave.” 

You might be interested to know 
that if you were to travel in Alaska to¬ 
day and were to look in right places, 
you would find some of these bones 
and tusks lying about on the ground 


50 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


still, and all this goes to prove that 
this story is quite true. The white 
man calls them the bones and tusks of 
mastodons. 

Menadlook finally crept into the 
cave a short distance. Then, since it 
was yet very early in the day, because 
the sun had set at two o’clock, as is 
its custom still in some parts of Alaska 
on certain days in the winter time, he 
made a torch of moss and walked far 
back into the cave. It was very diffi¬ 
cult indeed to keep his torch lit. The 
wind which caused the whistling at 
the mouth of the cave seemed to come 
from very far inside, and kept sweep¬ 
ing down through the dark cavern. 
He went on and on—back, back into 
the cave, keeoing watch all the time 


51 





THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


very snarply, ana listening ever now 
and then, but hearing only the “Whoo 
—Whoo” of the wind. At last, after 
he had gone back in the cave a long 
way, he came to a place where the cave 
divided away in two directions. From 
one of these forks all the wind seemed 
to be coming, while from the other 
came none at all. The torch burned 
straight up toward the lofty ceiling 
when Menadlook stepped inside it. In 
journeying on Menadlook chose this 
fork. ‘Tor,” he said to himself, “it 
will soon be time to sleep, and it will 
be warmer here.” 

He had gone only a few rods farther 
when he tumbled over a great tusk 
again, and found himself among some 
more giant bones. These were much 


52 





He Made a Torch of Moss 


53 














































































THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


fresher than those outside, and the 
tusks were nearly as white as the tusk 
of a walrus. He looked closely, and 
to his horror found the prints of giant 
toes in the soft rock of the floor. But 
then, it might well be that these tracks 
were made by the very monster whose 
bones lay here before him, for in such 
a quiet place nothing would disturb 
them for thousands of years. He de¬ 
cided to sleep here this night with one 
of the great bones for his pillow. 

It was not so cold in the cave as it 
had been in the deserted igloo, or in 
the snow house, so before he went to 
sleep Menadlook lay and dreamed of 
The Dinner That Was Always There 
and of the places where he might find 
it. “I might find it,” he thought to 


54 





THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


himself, “I might find it far, far south, 
where the walrus goes in the winter, 
for there men say, are islands and isl¬ 
ands, and on each island there are 
hundreds and hundreds of strange seal 
folk that stand up on their flippers al¬ 
most like men, and have coats as thick 
as Tdariuk, the reindeer, and as soft 
as Master Brown Mink. They must 
be very good to eat, I am sure, and if 
we were to go there to live, would 
there not come to us The Dinner That 
Is Always There? Or I might find 
Great White Bear’s meat shelf! All 
the wise medicine doctors say that he 
has a meat shelf far, far north; that it 
is wide as the sky and high as the 
moon, and there is Oh! meat and m.eat 


55 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


and seal-oil and all kinds of good 
things on it! But how would I ever 
climb up?” he sighed. 

Then he thought and thought and 
thought. ‘T might find the Lake of 
Many Large Fishes, for every wise med¬ 
icine man knows that there is some¬ 
where in all this empty land a great 
lake where one may catch fish with a 
tomcod line—one, two, three, four. Oh! 
perhaps a dozen at a time, and they 
are big! BIG! not small and soft as 
the poor little tomcod are; and if I 
could find that, would not The Dinner 
That Is Always There come to my 
people? And it might go way, way 
up to the sky where, when the North¬ 
ern Lights are glowing and swinging 
backward and forward, the medicine 


56 





THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


men say the men of the sky are play¬ 
ing ball, and the swaying is when one 
side is gaining and the other losing. 
If I should go up there I might find 
many things to eat, for the people of 
the sky must have plenty, else they 
would not have time to play so much 
on long winter nights. And I might— 
I might—I—I,” but the boy had fallen 
fast asleep. 

All the long night through he slept 
soundly, but along toward morning 
he began to dream that his faithful 
Soolook was coming down through 
the cave barking loud as ever he could, 
followed by a terrible Dakponamuck, 
which was almost as wide as the cave 
itself and almost as tall, and which 
had a pair of the terrible tusks that 


57 






THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


he had found in the cave. On, onI.it 
came rushing wildly and bellowing 
madly. Now Menadlook could hear 
his hoarse breathing, and now he was 
swallowed up by the dust that the mad 
creature raised from the moldy floor. 
Now, now—he should be trampled to 
death in another moment — Now — 
now—but just then he awoke with a 
start and stared about the cave where 
a little light was creeping in from the 
entrance far away. 




58 







CHAPTER VI 


THE STRANGE MAN AND HIS 
FOUR REINDEER 

When Menadlook awoke he heard 
old Soolook barking at something way 
back in the cave. His heart stood 
still! It might be a great, gaunt white 
wolf or some sleepy old white bear! 
Anyway, whatever it might be, he must 
go to the assistance of his brave old 
friend, else he might lose him, and 
then there would be no one in the 
world to comfort him. 

He hurriedly lighted his moss torch, 
and groping his way back to the end 
of the cave looked at his companion 
Soolook, and what do you suppose? 


59 


THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


He was barking down a hole in the 
wall, which could have made room for 
nothing more dangerous than a little, 
long-nosed mouse! Just like a dog, 
wasn’t it? Menadlook did not know 
whether to scold him or to laugh, so 
he did both, though the laugh was a 
very weak one, for he was very, very 
hungry. 

After that he went and sat in the 
mouth of the cave with his faithful 
companion beside him. He was be¬ 
ginning to feel extremely homesick. 
Three days he had been away from 
his village, his old uncle, his aunt, and 
Attakak. This was the longest time 
he had ever been away from them, and 
I guess perhaps you can tell just how 


60 





Soolook Barked at Something Way Back in the Cave 


61 



































THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


he felt. I am certain you can, if you 
were ever away from your home for the 
very first time. 

Well, he was sitting there blue as 
blue could be, and wondering if he 
was ever going to find The Dinner 
That Is Always There, when he caught 
sight of a strange thing. A very, very 
strange thing, indeed! He shaded his 
eyes. Then he stood up and pinched 
himself to see if he was asleep, but he 
wasn’t. What do you think? There 
was a white reindeer coming around 
the very next hill, and it was driven by 
a strange looking man with a white 
face and a long white beard! The man 
was leading three reindeer behind, and 
they were trotting along behind with¬ 
out making the least particle of a fuss 


62 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


about it! Menadlook had never seen 
a man like that before. He had never 
seen reindeer led or driven before! He 
had a great mind to run back in the 
cave and hide, but he didn’t. He must 
be very brave. Perhaps this strange 
man could tell him where The Dinner 
That Is Always There was to be found. 
He marched bravely out to meet him. 

The strange man seemed very glad 
to see him and, driving his reindeer 
to the mouth of the cave, tied them 
there while Menadlook tied Soolook 
to a little willow tree 'to keep him 
from playing too roughly with the 
timid reindeer. 

The white man made a little fire and 
boiled water for a cup of tea, and gave 
Menadlook some food to eat which 


63 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


was very good indeed, but was nothing 
like anything he had ever eaten before 
in his life. 

“But,” said the stranger, when they 
had eaten, “why are you living here in 
this cave all by yourself?” 

“I am in search of The Dinner That 
Is Always There,'' answered Menad- 
look with a smile. 

“The what?” said the stranger star¬ 
ing. 

''The Dinner That Is A Iways T here,'' 
Menadlook repeated, still smiling. 
Then he told the stranger all about it. 

“Why!” exclaimed the stranger, as 
he finished, “Perhaps you are the very 
fellow I am looking for!” 

“My name is Menadlook!” re¬ 
plied the boy quickly, “Were you 


64 





He Gave Memdlook Some Food 


65 










THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


sent by the Raven Father to help me 
find The Dinner That Is Always 
There?" 

‘‘Not by the Raven Father, but sent 
all the same,” said the stranger. ‘‘You 
see those four reindeer out there, the 
white one and the two spotted ones 
and the brown one? Well, I am to 
give them to some one, and they are to 
provide The Dinner That Is Always 
There for all Eskimo people.” 

Menadlook looked and looked, and 
thought and thought, and thought, 
but he could not see how four small 
reindeer could provide dinners for all 
his village, all the year round, forever, 
as he had hoped to be able to do. 

“Now,” said the stranger, “you 
must believe many things that you 


66 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


cannot see all at once. You do believe 
such things, or you would still be hunt¬ 
ing seal and walrus among your people, 
as all the others have done, instead of 
being out here searching for The Din¬ 
ner That Is Always There. You will 
take these four reindeer to your village 
after you have driven me to a place on 
the beach, Sitnezok, you call it, where 
there are two old houses in which no 
one lives now. You must leave me 
there. You must go to the village and 
there tell your people you have found 
how to get The Dinner That Is Always 
There. They won’t believe you, but 
perhaps your own family will, and if 
they do, take them to the tundra with 
you, for you must live on the tundra. 


67 





THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


far, far from other people’s homes where 
there are no dogs, and you must guard 
the reindeer well from the wolves. And 
never, never must you sell or kill a 
mother reindeer. 

“When you leave the village go 
back to the old house at Sitnezok, and 
there you will find strange boxes and 
pook-sacks full of food that will seem 
yery strange to you at first, but by and 
by you will find it very good indeed. 
Teach the old woman to take what she 
can balance on her broad sewing needle 
from the shiny box and mix it with all 
she can put in a boot sole from the 
strange pook-sack. Then she must mix 
it with water, just enough so it will not 
stick to her fingers, and this she must 
roast on hot stones before the fire. It 


68 






From the 


Strange Pook-sack 


69 














































































THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


will be very good, and always, every 
year, you will find plenty there at 
the old houses at Sitnezok. On the 
fourth year you must go to Sitnezo- 
mie, which white men call Cape Nome, 
and there you will find wonderful 
things, houses and houses not built 
with logs and sod, but just strips of 
logs, and windows not covered with 
eider duck-skins, but with ice that 
won’t meltwinter or summer. Many, 
many other strange things you will 
see, but you must not stay, as you may 
wish to do. You must leave one rein¬ 
deer with a man there and you must 
return to your herd of reindeer. 

“After that you shall see what you 
shall see; you shall see what you shall 
see. . . .” said the old man, nodding 


70 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


his head very wisely, “But two things 
you must remember: First you must 
remember that great things come to 
men little by little, little by little, and 
not all at once, as you have dreamed; 
and remember never to sell or kill a 
mother reindeer, even if you should 
come to have hundreds and hundreds 
of them all your own.” 

Menadlook could not see how he 
would ever come to have hundreds and 
hundreds of reindeer, but the old man 
seemed very wise and very kind, so 
tying his faithful Soolook to the rein¬ 
deer sled, he took the old man to Sit- 
nezok, and leaving him there, drove 
the reindeer to his own home. 


71 




CHAPTER VII 

I 

THE GREAT CHIEF AND THE 
BRAVE HUNTER LAUGH AT 
MENADLOOK 

What a shout there was when Men- 
adlook came within sight of his native 
village driving his one white reindeer 
and leading the three others behind. 

“Uba-gook! Uba-gook! (Look! Look!) 
they all shouted in a chorus, ^‘Men- 
adlook is coming back driving one rein¬ 
deer and leading three. He will tell 
us now where we may find The Dinner 
That Is Always There!'’ Of course, 
they all wished to ask questions at 
once, but it was right and proper that 
the chief and the greatest hunter should 


72 


THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 



ask questions first, for was not one a 
great chief and was not the other a' 
very brave hunter? So they were al¬ 
lowed to ask questions first. 

“Did you find it? Did you find 
The Dinner That Is Always ThereT' 
they asked both at once. 

“Yes,” Menadlookbowed modestly, 
“I have found it.” 


73 













THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


“Where? Where?” cried the great¬ 
est hunter, 

“Where? Where? Where?” shouted 
all the people, in a chorus. 

“Tell me,” whispered the chief in one 
of Men ad look’s ears. “Tell me, and I 
will give you all the rich fox skins and 
beaver skins and marten skins and 
mink skins I possess.” 

“Tell me,” shouted the brave hun¬ 
ter, becoming very bold, “Tell me, and 
I will never go hunting again in my 
life.” 

All the people had something to say 
about what they would do when they 
knew where the dinner was to be found, 
but as he listened to them Menadlook 
grew sadder and sadder, for he realized 
that what he had found was not at all 


74 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


what they had expected, and they 
would not be satisfied at all, for they 
had expected that every one would have 
it at once, and none would have to 
work any more. But he said mod¬ 
estly, “These, my four reindeer will 
bring us The Dinner That Is Always 
I here." 

Then all the people who had praised 
him began to shout at him and poke 
fun. “These four reindeer?” they cried, 
‘ ‘Why they would not make a meal for 
us! How can they bring us dinners 
forever?” 

‘ ‘ Leave him alone, ’ ’ another shou ted, 
“he has wandered so long that the 
moon has looked at him and he cannot 
think well anymore, let him go!” 


75 





THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


“Well, an3way,” said the chief, “We 
will try your reindeer, for they look sleek 
and fat, and will make a fine roast.” 

“No,no!” cried the boy in dismay, 
“You do not understand. I must not 
kill my reindeer, for then The Dinner 
That Is Always ThereWilX never come.” 

“Not kill the reindeer? Notkillthe 
reindeer?” They shouted in a chorus. 
“Why, what are reindeer for but to 
kill?” They would have rushed upon 
the reindeer and killed them at once, 
but just at that moment the white 
reindeer, as if understanding what was 
going on, gave a great leap for liberty 
and went spinning away, striking the 
bravest hunter across the knees with 
the sled, and sending his spear flying 
through the air. Menadlook clung to 


76 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


the skin-rope fastened to the sled, and 
the rope tripped the chief and tossed 
him head foremost into a snow-bank, 
while all the people shouted and 
screamed loudly and long. 

Menadlook clung to his rein like 
grim death, and at last sprang upon 
the sled. His reindeer were so swift 
that no one thought of following him, 
knowing very well that they could never 
catch him. He waited outside the vil¬ 
lage till after dark, feeling sure that his 
own family would join him. And just 
when he was about giving up hope, and 
was ready to drive away alone, here 
cameAttakak, and the old man and the 
old woman, bringing their deer-skins, 
and their needles, and all things else 
that a thrifty Eskimo family must have. 


77 





CHAPTER VIII 

MENADLOOK PROSPERS 

Attakak, Menadlook’s little play¬ 
mate, had believed in him very much, 
so she had run right away for her deer¬ 
skins and needles, and the old woman 
believed in him a little, “For,” she 
thought to herself, “he at least has 
four reindeer which we can kill and eat, 
and that will make many dinners, 
while here we have no dinners at all.” 
Then, of course, there was nothing for 
the old man to do but follow, for he did 
not wish to live all by himself. 

They drove long into the night, when 
finally they came to Sitnezok, where 
the deserted igloos were, and there, 
sure enough, in barrels and boxes was 
a great supply of strange food. The 


78 


THE DINNER T HAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 



Wonderful Birds from Afar 

old woman mixed the white powder in 
the shiny tin can with the white powder 
in the cloth sack with water, just as 
she was told, and Ah-ne-ca! it was so 
good when they baked it on a stone by 
the fire that they came near killing 
themselves, over-eating the very first 
time. 

They built themselves a cabin out on 
the wide, empty tundra, far away from 
wolves and dogs. They stored their 
strange food high on a new meat shelf. 


79 

































THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


and every day the old woman went 
there and climbing up said, ‘‘Sure 
enough here is dinner for us all,” and 
never the whole winter through did she 
climb to the shelf and, rattling her 
stick on the meat shelf say, ‘‘ ‘Ileet-pon- 
e-muk!’ There were dinner here last 
week, but now there are no dinners at 
all!” So Menadlook was very glad, 
but sometimes he was a little sad, still, 
for he had so hoped to have The Dinner 
That Was Always There for all his peo¬ 
ple, and here were dinners for but four. 

Now one might think that the great, 
empty tundra, with its wild whistling 
winds and its white, white snow every¬ 
where, and not another home any¬ 
where, would be a very lonesome place 
indeed. And perhaps Attakak did 


80 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


think of that when she came to ride 
away on Menadlook’s deer sled, but if 
she did, she forgot all about it very, 
very soon, for while there are no homes 
of people on the wide, wide tundra, 
there are the homes of many of Mother 
Nature’s children, and the most inter¬ 
esting ones in the world. Here, far 
away from the cruel hunters. Little 
White Fox creeps out of his home under 
some great rock and goes peering about 
everywhere, and if Menadlook and At- 
takak happened to be gathering frozen 
heather berries on the hillside, he would 
not scamper away at once, but would 
stand and allow them to talk to him. 
Madam Ptarmigan, too, in her pret¬ 
tiest white winter dress, and very proud 
of her pink stockings, strolled about 


81 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE , 


quite close to them, picking seeds from 
the flower pods which waved and rat¬ 
tled in the wind. Sometimes a shy 
caribou would come to visit their tame 
reindeer, but would go bounding away 
at sight of them, and sometimes a 
great white wolf would come down 
from the North and threaten their 
little herd. Then there were nights of 
sleeplessness, when someone must 
watch very sharply, for not one of their 
precious herd must be lost, else The 
Dinner That Was Always There might 
never come. 

But there were sports for the little 
boy and girl also, for was there not the 
wonderful sled deer? Oh! the times 
they had spinning away over the tun¬ 
dra after this steed, who was far swifter 


82 




\ 


THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


than any dog-team! Miles and miles 
they traveled together, back to back, 
skimming along. Itwasjustlikecoast- 
ing, only there was no climb back up 
hill. Miles and miles they went, 
after wood from the beach and water 
from the river. 

And when Spring came. Oh! the 
beauty of it all then! The wild flow¬ 
ers, red, pink, blue and yellow! The 
wild ducks and geese, the swans and 
cranes, the loons, and the little but¬ 
ter-balls that came to make their nests 
about the little lakes, and sing their 
strange love songs of nesting-time! And 
Oh! the things they learned about these 
wonderful birds that come from far, 
far away, and went back at the first 
falling of snow in the autumn. Oh! 


83 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


No, it was not one bit lonesome on 
the tundra in winter and summer. And 
best of all, they had one another for 
playmates, and there was a dinner al¬ 
ways waiting for them when they re¬ 
turned from work or from play. As 
for the old man and the old woman, 
they were quite content to sit by the 
fire or go about their work, quite happy 
in the joy of their little folk, and in 
the great supply of Dinners That Were 
Always There. 

Then, too, when Spring came, there 
were three baby reindeer on the tundra 
with the mother reindeer. Then, you 
may be sure, Menadlook was glad he 
had not consented to kill the reindeer 
mothers, and Attakak was more glad 
than he, for the baby reindeer in their 


84 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


velvet coats were very beautiful in¬ 
deed. One was all white like the father 
reindeer, and one was white with brown 
spots, and one was brown with white 
spots. You may be certain they were 
guarded very carefully day and night, 
and if a stream was to be crossed, Me- 
nadlook or the old man was right there 
to see that they were not drowned. 
Very fast the white baby reindeer grew 
tall and strong, and had large antlers 
like his father, while the other two 
were more slender and had antlers like 
their mothers. 

Next year there were three other 
baby reindeer, and in the following 
year the same. In the autumn of the 
fourth year, when the first white baby 
reindeer was large as his father. Me¬ 


ss 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 

nadlook took him to Nome as he had 
promised, and gave him to the white 
man who lived in the little green house 
on the edge of the sand-pit. This was 
in part pay for the white man’s food, 
which you probably have guessed was 
just flour and baking-powder, and I 
presume there was also some sugar 
and tea now and then. By and by 
Menadlook would be able to take 
enough young reindeer to the white 
man in the little green house on the 
edge of the sand-pit to pay for all the 
food he had eaten all the years, for 
each year at a certain time there was 
always a fresh supply of flour and bak¬ 
ing-powder, sugar and tea right at 
that same place on the beach by the 
old deserted igloos at Sitnezok 


86 




CHAPTER IX 

THE DINNER THAT IS ALWAYS 

THERE AT LAST 

One day, when the old man and the 
old woman and Menadlook and At- 
takak had lived on the tundra six 
years; when they had taken six rein¬ 
deer to Nome and had thirty all their 
own, besides five wild caribou which 
they had caught when young and had 
tamed, there appeared once more the 
old man with the white face and the 
long beard. His face was whiter than 
ever and his beard longer, but he 
seemed very pleasant, and when Me¬ 
nadlook had told him all he had done, 
and had showed him his thirty rein¬ 
deer and his five young caribou, he 


87 


THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


rubbed his hands together with glee, 
and exclaimed: 

“Good! Good! Who would have 
dreamed you could have done so well!’ ’ 

After that they had a very good meal 
of white man’s food, which Attakak 
cooked all by herself, for she was quite 
a young lady by this time. After he 
had eaten, the old man rubbed his 
hands together more than ever and 
praised Attakak’s cooking. 

“Now,’’ he said, “because you have 
been so careful and have believed in 
me, I am going to give you a great 
many reindeer to keep for your peo- 
pie. I am going to give you a hun¬ 
dred!’’ 

“Ca?’’ (Is it possible?) exclaimed 
Menadlook, opening and closing his 

88 

i 

< ( 

C < < 


< < < 




THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 



“Is It Possible?” Exclaimed Menadlook 


hands ten times to show the old man 
and old woman how many. 

“Yes,” the white man said, “and 

this summer there will be a great deal 
of white man’s food on the beach, and 
you must bring ten young men and 
their families here to help you care for 
the reindeer, and give them some of 
the food to eat. Each year after that 
you must take more and more young 
men, and send more and more rein- 


89 










THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


deer to Nome, but never, never must 
you kill a mother reindeer, nor bring 
one to Nome for the white man. And 
if you do as I tell you, the time will 
come when The Dinner That Is Al¬ 
ways There will be here for all your 
people, just as it has for you.” 

At that he slapped his reindeer with 
the reins and rode away, while the 
four Eskimo people stared at him in 
wonder. 

The hundred reindeer were brought, 
and that made a hundred and thirty- 
five, counting the wild young caribou. 
Then Menadlook sent to Sitnezok for 
the ten best young men of the village 
and their families, and they came very 
much ashamed to think they had 
laughed at Menadlook when he had 


90 




the dinner that was always there 


but four reindeer and was going to 
bring The Dinner That Was Always 
There. They went to work with a 
will, and built cabins on the tundra 
where they could live in the winter 
time, though they lived in tents in the 
summer. They found the food on the 
beach, all they would need for the long 
winter. 

The white man never returned, and 
indeed it was not really necessary, for 
every year there were more and more 
reindeer till there was a large herd of 
them feeding in every little corner of 
the tundra. 

Well, one night, after years had 
passed, all the herders had driven their 
reindeer close to the village, and all 
the old men who hunted seals and 


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THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


great white bears had come in from 
the ocean, and they were getting ready 
for a grand feast. While the women 
were all very busy preparing the din¬ 
ner, .he old men were sitting about 
the seal-oil lamps talking of The Din¬ 
ner That Is Always There, just as they 
had done when Menadlook was a very 
small fellow. Some said it was to be 
found far, far North; some that it was 
over by the Smoking Mountain; some 
that it was found to be on the many 
islands far to the South, and some 
contended that it was nowhere but in 
the moon. 

Suddenly, in the midst of the dis¬ 
cussion, a young herder stood up and 
exclaimed: 


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THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


‘‘The Dinner That Is Always There 
is here!” 

“Where? Where?” shouted all the 
old men in chorus. 

‘ ‘Where? Where?’’ screamed all the 
women and children in a breath. 

“Listen!” said the young herder, 
very thoughtfully. “When did any 
of your women, young or old, go last 
to her meat shelf, and rattling her 
stick, say, ‘Well, there were plenty 
of dinners here last week, but now 
there are no dinners at all’?” 

For a long time everyone was silent. 
They were thinking—thinking hard. 
But think as they might, no one could 
quite remember, it had been so long 
ago. Then wi th one voice they shou ted: 


93 





THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


‘‘The dinner is here! The dinner is 
here!” 

You see it had come to them so 
slowly, ‘‘little by little,” as the white 
man had said it would, that they had 
not realized that at last they really 
had The Dinner That Is Always There. 

Of course, they all knew then how 
much they owed to the boy who had 
grown up in their own village. ‘‘For,” 
they said, ‘‘if Menadlookhad not gone 
in search of The Dinner That Is Always 
There, and if he had not had much 
more faith than we in the reindeer, the 
dinner might never have come to us at 
all.” All together they began to shout, 
“Menadlook! Menadlook! Menadlook! 
Menadlook! ’ ’ They shou ted so loud and 
so long that I am sure all the reindeer 


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THE DINNER THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE 


awakened and lifted their heads from 
the mossy pillows to listen, and I am 
not certain butLittle WhiteFox paused 
in his scampering on the tundra, and 
Great White Bear from his shambling 
on large ice-floe to listen, too. 

After that Menadlook made a 
speech, which was a very, very short 
one, as all speeches should be when 
little folk are waiting for their dinner, 
especially when there are doughnuts 
fried in seal-oil, salmon-berry pie, bak¬ 
ed white bear hearts, and any number 
of good things to eat. After the feast 
everyone went his own way very happy, 
but Menadlook happiest of all, for 
now he knew that The Dinner That Is 
Always There was always here for all 
his people. {Finis) 


95 






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